Estuaries are both beautiful and ecologically bountiful. Their natural expanses provide habitats for a wide range of animal and plant species. This is an image of the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve. It is located on the south-central shore of Lake Erie in Erie County, Ohio, three miles east of Huron. It is the only "Great Lakes-type" freshwater estuary in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, and features freshwater marshes, swamp forests, a barrier beach, an upland forest, and a portion of nearshore Lake Erie. (Photo: Old Woman Creek NEERS site)